Show empathy for patients with disabilities

TM DEAE and I'ma social worker. For 23 years, I've been a member of Parliament, where I’ve been in the position to advocate for access for deaf people, including people with disabilities.

- WILMA NEWHOUDT-DRUCHEN

MANY in the medical profession just do not know how to communicate with deaf patients. They do not have empathy for deaf patients, says the writer. | Freepik

(Freepik)

I chaired the committee that moved to have the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities ratified. Year after year, we mark Deaf Awareness Month, and we have Disability Rights Awareness Month as well as 365 Days Against Violence and Abuse.

Given all that, we would have thought that those in the medical profession would be more empathetic and understanding towards deaf patients.

Time and again, I've come to see that many in the medical profession just do not know how to communicate with deaf patients. They do not have empathy for deaf patients. | wonder whether they are trained to be more understanding of deaf people and those with various disabilities.

Today is December 3, when we usually celebrate Disability Rights Awareness Day. A deaf family member has been in hospital, where he encountered medical staff in desperate need of training in deaf awareness and deaf culture.

This family member is profoundly deaf; when he is connected to machines, he cannot hear the noise made when he moves. One night, a nurse wanted to wake him up, and she decided to hit him to do so. She hit him on the swollen, painful side. Is that how a nurse is trained to wake patients up, deaf or not?